May 13, 1875] 



NATURE 



27 



fifteen years of the period over which they extend, when 

 he had the command of comparatively large telescopes ; 

 and a similar remark applies to the measures of Baron 

 Dembowski, who during upwards of twenty years has 

 produced work of the greatest value in this department 

 of astronomy. Dr. Doberck also gives us a provisional 

 orbit for t Ophiuchi, which Sir William Herschel in 1783 

 considered the closest of all his double stars ; and after 

 appearing single to Struve with the Dorpat refractor in 

 1825, was oblong in 1827, and is now an easy object. 

 The period assigned is 185 years, with a peri-astron pas- 

 sage, i820"63 ; the semi-axis, i"*ii. 



The Star Lalande 19662 (Sextans),— Mr. J. E. 

 Gore, of Umballa, Punjab, in a letter printed in another 

 column, directs attention to the probable variability of 

 this star. It was observed by Lalande, 1798, April 10, 

 " Histoire Celeste," p. 330, where its magnitude is 

 entered 4^, as in the reduced catalogue published by the 

 British Association (which, by the way, as well as the 

 other two catalogues prepared at the instance of that body, 

 is unfortunately becoming scarce). It appears in Heis's 

 Atlas as a 67 ; but after searching through the modern 

 catalogues where it was likely to be included, we have 

 only discovered a* single meridian observation by Lamont 

 in his Zone 314, on 1845, April 5, when it is called 7*8. 

 It does not occur in Argelander's " Uranometria," nor 

 was it observed by D'Agelet, Bessel, or Santini. — Another 

 of Lalande's stars. No. 23726 in Corvus, is in all proba- 

 bility variable. He estimated it 'j^, 1795, May 10, and 

 Bessel in May 1824 called it 8 ; Heis, however, saw it as 

 2, fifth magnitude. What is the actual degree of bright- 

 ness ? The star's position for the commencement of the 

 present year is in R.A. I2h. 37m. 2s., and N.P.D. 

 103° io'-3. 



The Star 61 Ge^hnorum.— The Rev. T. W. Webb 

 has remarked the probable variability of a small com- 

 panion of this star, distant about i', and not far from the 

 circle of declination to the south (estimated angles from 

 160° to 190°), and appears incHned to identify it with 

 Smyth's companion of the 9th magnitude, for which he 

 gave, i835'85, position iio°'o, distance 60'^ Smyth's esti- 

 mates of magnitude down to 9 may be generally relied 

 upon, though for smaller stars he is often wide of the 

 mark, according to our present standard. It is very pos- 

 sible that he may have caught one of the minor planets 

 close to 61 Geminorum ; his angle, though it has only his 

 lowest weight, differs considerably from recent estimations 

 for the faint star. Our principal object in referring to the 

 Rev. T. W. Webb's remarks is, however, to suggest that 

 61 Geminorum may be itself variable ; D'Agelet con- 

 sidered it 6 in October 1784. Piazzi observed it ten times 

 on the meridian, and estimated it 7'8 ; it is 7 in Lalande, 

 67 in Taylor's volume for 1834-35, 6 in the "Urano- 

 metria " and Heis's Catalogue, 6-5 in " Durchmusterung," 

 and 6-3 in the RadclilTe Observations, 1870. The deep 

 yellow colour noticed by Smyth, and now stated to have 

 disappeared, may perhaps be considered by some readers 

 as an indication in the same direction, 



Cometary Astronomy. — The Astron. Nach., No. 

 2,034, contains a fine series of observations of the faint 

 comet discovered by Coggia, 1874, August 19, taken at 

 the newly-erected observatory of Col. Tomline, Orwell 

 Park, Ipswich : it extends to the middle of November, 

 and will no doubt be of material service in the final deter- 

 mination of the orbit. (The position of the Orwell Park 

 Observatory is in long. 4m. 55 •8s. E., and lat. 52° o' 33"). 

 Vienna observations of the same comet appear in No. 

 2,035 of the above-named periodical, but extend only to 

 October 19 : they are accompanied by positions of Win- 

 necke's Comet (1874, April 11) to June 17, and of the 

 comet detected by Borrelly (July 25) to October 19.— In 

 No. 2,036, Dr. Sandberg has given elements of the elliptic 

 comet of Tempel, 1873, II., which will be preferable to 



any hithelrtb published. It will be remembered that this 

 comet, near the preceding aphelion passage, experienced 

 very heavy perturbations from the action of Jupiter, 

 having approached that planet in January 1870 within 

 035 of the earth's mean distance from the sun. In the 

 instantaneous ellipse at perihelion, 1867, May 23, the 

 period of revolution was 2,080 days : at the last passage 

 by the same point of the otbit, the perturbations had 

 increased the period to 2,179 ddys. Other elements for 

 1873 are: semi-axis major, 3*2889; semi-axis minor, 

 2-9169 ; perihehon distance, 17695 ; the period in years 

 is 5*965, so that we may expect to see the comet in the 

 spring of 1879 under similarly favourable conditions fot 

 observation to those of 1867 dnd 1873.— In No. 2,037 we 

 have definitive orbits (parabolic) for Comet 1870, IV., which 

 was observed for only seven days, and of Comet 1871, II., 

 both by Herr Schulhof, of the Observatory at Vienna. As 

 the manner in which the elements are expressed may not 

 be readily understood by the uninitiated in such calcula- 

 tions, we transcribe the orbits in the form that has so far 

 been adopted in our catalogues. The perihelion passage 

 is expressed in Greenwich time, and the longitudes are 

 from mean equinox at commencement of the year. 



Comet 1870, IV. Comet 1871, II. 



Perihelion passage .., Dec, I9 87609 ... July, 27-0I925 



Long, of perihelion ... 4° 8' 56" ... tfS" 3S' 44" 



,, ascending node 94 44 43 ... 211 54 40 



Inclination 32 43 35 ... 78 o 36 



Log. perihelion distance 9-590242 ... 0-031763 



Motion ... Retrograde, ... Retrograde, 



LECTURES AT THE ZOOLOGICAL 



GARDENS* 



in. 



May 6, — Mr, Garrod oil the Deer Tribe. 



'TPHE Deer maybe defined as those Ruminant Artio- 

 -■■ dactylate animals in which deciduous horns are 

 developed, and the young are spotted. Some, namely 

 the Musk Deer {Moschns) and the Water Deer {Hydro- 

 potes), never have antlers ; in both these the young, how- 

 ever, are spotted, as they are not in any of the hollow- 

 horned Ruminants. 



The degree of development of the antlers is closely 

 related to the size of the species. In the small Pudu 

 Deer and the Muntjacs they are simple or but slightly 

 branched ; whilst their branching is very considerable in 

 the large Reindeer and Wapiti, The typical antler seems 

 to consist of a main stem or beam, with a small basal, 

 anteriorly directed tyne, the brow antler. The apex of 

 the beam bifurcates, one branch being directed for- 

 wards, and a little external to the brow antler ; the other 

 starts from the inner side of the posterior surface. In 

 one well-marked group, the Elapliine^ the anterior of 

 these upper branches is inconsiderable and does not 

 branch, the posterior enlarging and branching in most — 

 becoming palmated in the Fallow Deer. The larger 

 species of this elaphine section, including the Wapiti, 

 Maral and Red Deer, possess a second brow antler; 

 whereas in the smaller species this is not found {e.g. the 

 Fallow, Formosan, Mantchurian, and Japanese Deer). 

 In the Mesopotamian Deer, recently discovered by Sir 

 Victor Brooke, which is intimately related to the Fallow, 

 the palmation is found in the basal portion of the antler, 

 including the brow antler, together with extra small 

 tubercles very frequently found in that region. 



In the group of Deer called Rusine the bifurcation is 

 more equal, and when there is a further branching, the 

 anterior as well as the posterior branch participates in 

 the division. The brow antler is simple. This type of 

 antler is found in its most uncomplicated condition in 

 the Sambur of India, and the closely allied species 

 Rusa equinus, swinhoii, &c. of the Malay region and 



* Continued from p. 9. 



